‘A war of the truth’: Europe’s heatwaves are failing to spur support for climate action

4 juillet 2025 à 17:44

Voters may feel hotter summers are ‘too much’ but they appear to tolerate roll-back of policies to stop global heating

“It’s just too much, isn’t it?” says Julie, a retiree in Stanford-le-Hope, Essex, about the 42C (107.6F) heat that her brother had seen scorch Spain last week. The former local government worker has felt summers get hotter over her lifetime and says she “couldn’t stand” such high heat herself.

But like many who experienced Europe’s first heatwave of the summer, Julie does not sound overly alarmed. She worries about climate breakdown for young people, but is not concerned about herself. She thinks more climate action would be nice, but does not know what can be done about it. She does not have much faith in the government.

Extreme heatwaves may cause global decline in dairy production, scientists warn

The Guardian

Par :Elsie McDowell

3 juillet 2025 à 20:00

Israel-based study finds that by 2050 average daily milk production could be reduced by 4% as a result of worsening heat stress

Dairy production will be threatened by the increasing frequency and intensity of heatwaves, a study has found.

Drawing on records from more than 130,000 cows over a period of 12 years, the researchers report that extreme heat reduces dairy cows’ ability to produce milk by 10%.

It’s true that my fellow students are embracing AI – but this is what the critics aren’t seeing | Elsie McDowell

The Guardian

Par :Elsie McDowell

29 juin 2025 à 09:00

Those turning to ChatGPT aren’t lazy. My generation has been stranded in a rapidly changing and, since Covid, badly mishandled education system

Reading about the role of artificial intelligence in higher education, the landscape looks bleak. Students are cheating en masse in our assessments or open-book, online exams using AI tools, all the while making ourselves stupider. The next generation of graduates, apparently, are going to complete their degrees without ever having so much as approached a critical thought.

Given that my course is examined entirely through closed-book exams, and I worry about the vast amounts of water and energy needed to power AI datacentres, I generally avoid using ChatGPT. But in my experience, students see it as a broadly acceptable tool in the learning process. Although debates about AI tend to focus on “cheating”, it is increasingly being used to assist with research, or to help structure essays.

Elsie McDowell is a student. She was the 2023 winner of the Hugo Young award, 16-18 age category

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